What predators are willing to do for our kids that we may not be…

There’s so much I want to share with you about my first week here in Barcelona at Mindvalley University but doing so would resemble a dissertation just tell the short version, so I’m going to just say that I’m in the company of some of the most bad-ass game-changers and freedom-hustlers I’ve ever met who are all inspiring me to be a better, stronger person and giving me enormous doses of love and support with my work as well. As you know, I’m very passionate about creating opportunities for humans to connect and become total PROs at being fully present as human beings on planet earth, so this is a dream for me to be in this space with other people who are passionate about similar things.

In this first week, I’ve been inspired by several people to create more out of what I’m already doing and I’ve had some things come up that I can’t wait to share with you around this. But I have something heavy on my heart, so right now I just want to get real with you and drop some truth about “that thing”.

I want to give you a little breakdown of how easily a pimp lures a young child into sex trafficking. (In case you were not aware, the average age of entry into prostitution in America is 12-13 years of age.) It doesn’t take much really. All they need to do is find a young girl or boy with low self-esteem. Predators can spot them a mile away and they know exactly what to say and do to get them exactly where they want them. That’s it. Yes, it’s true that some of the victims have suffered abuse or come from low-income families, severe neglect, etc. but it can happen to ANYONE…that also means YOUR child, boy or girl. They find kids who are confused and don’t know their value and they pour into them with support, gifts, they listen to them and show compassion and understanding and they make them feel loved and like they belong somewhere.

Imagine your are a child who thinks all of your friends hate you or don’t understand you. Imagine feeling alone and then having some dude come along and fulfill many of your emotional needs. You’re going to begin to trust and adore that person and be grateful for them because now you don’t feel so alone. You might even fall in love with that person. And then imagine that person tells you one day that he needs you to do this “one little thing”, which would be selling your body, for a while so that the two of you could run away together and live happily ever after. You aren’t sure you like that idea so he applies whatever pressure tactics he needs to, whether it be emotional manipulation or physical force and the next thing you know, this child who just wanted to be understood and loved (like we all do) is now being raped and used every day for someone else’s pleasure.

Why am I telling you all this? It’s not to dump a trauma bomb on you and ruin your day but it is meant to disrupt your comfort zone. What I keep struggling with is how the hell did we get here? How is it that clever, hard-working pimps and predators are pouring more into our kids than we are? They are willing to do for these kids what we are not and that is why we are losing them, not just to things like sex trafficking but also to drug addiction, suicide and just plain and simple apathy. Where has our community gone? We as parents are so concerned about what people will think of our kids or of us as parents and grades, and performance driven outcomes (and let’s face it, that fear is real because the gossip and slander and insecurities in our communities are a cancerous road to isolation that none of us want to experience) that we keep quiet and we don’t reach out FOR help or TO help. As long as we are in that place, we are going to continue to lose our children.

Imagine what we could do for them if we were willing to pour into them what gangs, pimps and predators pour into them. Imagine how the thumbprint of your community might look and feel different. When we pour into them, we pour into ourselves and into the entire planet. It’s an outrage that such smart, clever people are working so hard to output suffering on the world. We have to create a shift, which means we have to become a little more courageous and vulnerable. What does that look like for you? How can you pour into, not just your own child, but maybe your child’s friends or some kid you know who is struggling in certain ways?

We can learn something from these assholes and start beating them at their own game. They are not as powerful as we might think and though human trafficking is globally, the fastest growing form of organized crime, it is not bigger than our capacity to love and create beauty. Anything is possible. Every time one of our children suffers, we all suffer, every time one of us wins, we all win. Please join me today in prayer for the empowerment of our youth and for the strengthening of families and community all across the globe. The simple, yet powerful act of prayer can be enough to move mountains, so start there.